Italy's Renzi pledges to slash red tape, 'revolutionize' economy

Italy's
PM Renzi gives a thumbs-up during a confidence vote at the lower
house of the parliament in RomeThomson Reuters

By Gavin Jones

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi pledged on
Tuesday to slash red tape and "revolutionize" the economy, ahead
of a lower house vote of confidence to fully empower his new
government.

"Italy's finest page has yet to be written," Renzi said a his
maiden speech to the Chamber of Deputies which produced many of
his trademark rhetorical flourishes but few specific policy
commitments.

The 39-year-old Renzi, Italy's youngest prime minister, said
radical steps were needed to revive an economy that has barely
grown for the past 15 years and restore citizens' confidence in
politics.

He promised to overhaul the tax system by "a gigantic operation
of simplification", and to cut unemployment well above 12 percent
with "the courage to revolutionize the economic and legal system
of our country".

Renzi delivered his unwritten 50 minute speech in the usual
colloquial style which differs sharply from his predecessors and
from Italian tradition, but it was greeted coolly by the chamber,
with little applause even from his parliamentary majority.

Deputies from the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement sent out
tweets during the speech saying it was devoid of substance.

The outgoing mayor of Florence and leader of the center-left
Democratic Party (PD) ousted his predecessor as prime minister
Enrico Letta this month by withdrawing the PD's support from his
government.

Renzi is expected to win Tuesday's vote easily with the backing
of the PD and smaller center-right and centrist groups, having
won his first confidence vote in the upper house Senate on
Monday.

His speech was similar in style and substance to the one he gave
to the Senate but he spelled out that a promised "double digit"
reduction in labor taxes this year meant a cut of 10 billion
euros, rather than 10 percent as had been widely interpreted and
would have meant around a 30 billion euro cut.

He also devoted more attention to the European Union, saying
Italy's 6-month presidency of the region from July was "a
gigantic opportunity" to establish a greater role for the country
in shaping EU policy.

However, he shed no light on whether he would push for Italy to
be given leeway to allow its budget deficit to exceed the EU's 3
percent of output ceiling, as he had suggested on several
occasions prior to becoming prime minister.

"Europe today doesn't give us hope because we have allowed the
debate to be dominated by decimal points and percentages," he
said.

"We want a Europe where Italy doesn't just go and receive
instructions but gives a fundamental contribution, because there
can be no Europe without Italy."

(Editing by Alison Williams)

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